Never Say Goodbye
by EvilSpasticMudMonsterofDoom
Summary: Sequel to "Spirited Away: Saving the Spirit World". Chihiro's cousin Izumi ventures into the spirit world. Nimokushi escapes from prison, and all hell breaks loose.
1. Prologue

**_Author's notes: This is the sequel to freezingsaphire's "_****_Spirited Away: Saving the Spirit World_****_". Go read it if you haven't. Or this fic will make no fricken sense. Please read and review. Constructive criticism will be appreciated. Nice reviews will make a happy writer. Flames will be used to melt chocolate; flamers will be dangled by their toes over a boiling cauldron of melted chocolate. _**

**_Warnings: Language, OCs, slight innuendo, Haku/Chihiro, character-torture, a crazy author… I'm going nowhere with this._**

**_Disclaimer: Plot is freezingsaphire's. About the "Better?" part, I read it in another fic, but I can't remember which. If you're the author, tell me and I'll credit you, or remove that part. We do not own Spirited Away. Just don't sue us dammit. _**

**Never Say Goodbye**

Prologue 

_Why… why did you have to run away? You were a wonderful student in school, with close friends and a perfectly happy life. Why? Where are you? Cousin Chihiro… I miss you…_

"Izumi… Izumi?" the girl in question stirred from her sleep, and pried opened her eyes to find her mother hovering over her concernedly. "Sweetie, are you alright?"

Izumi raised her hands to her face to rub off the tears that had flowed down her cheeks. "I'm fine," she realized that her voice shook, and choked back a sob that threatened to rise from her throat. Someone who didn't know her wouldn't have noticed, but Izumi's mother was hardly "someone who didn't know her".

"There there…" her mother said in a soothing voice, and handed her a tissue to wipe her tears off. " I know you were close to Chihiro, and you two obviously loved each other very much. There's nothing wrong with crying over someone you love. You don't have to hide it." Izumi's mother pulled her into a hug, and Izumi began to cry softly against her chest. Minutes passed, and Izumi's sobs subsided to occasional sniffles.

"Better?" her mother asked. A simple question that didn't imply being "all right"; merely one that asked if crying had helped. It was a question Izumi's mother always asked after one of her daughter's crying jags. Izumi nodded, and smiled up at her mother.

"Better. Thank you." Izumi gave her mother a hug, and got out of bed to change and get ready for Chihiro's "funeral".

Izumi ran a brush through her hair as she stared into the mirror. To put it bluntly, she looked like shit. After Chihiro had gone missing, Izumi had fretted so badly, she barely ate and slept. The meager meals she ate did nothing to help her appearance, and she was even skinnier than she was before. There were dark rings under her eyes; the pitiful amounts of sleep she had each night showed clearly. She exited her room and went downstairs, where the people offering their condolences had gathered.

After four years of searching and with no clues as to where Chihiro had gone, the police had finally thrown in the towel and proclaimed her missing and dead. Her family had pleaded with and begged them to continue searching, holding on to any possibility that Chihiro was still alive. The police hadn't been willing to waste any more resources or manpower to find Chihiro. Her family had no choice but to accept that she was never coming back.

Chihiro had had many friends, but few who were truly close to her. Those friends consisted of two people, and they were the only ones who had bothered to come. Kojin and Miyu looked no better than Izumi did; similar to her, both had lost weight, and had dark rings under their eyes.

Izumi got drinks and handed them to the two visitors, "Here, you must be thirsty."

"Thanks," Kojin replied and accepted the drink gratefully, smiling weakly at Izumi. His eyes were red from crying and he looked like he had definitely seen better days.

Miyu muttered her thanks and glanced at Izumi. "You must be Izumi, Chihiro's younger cousin. We've heard many things about you. Chihiro used to talk about you a lot." He voice wobbled as she finished her sentence and she rubbed away tears that had gathered at her eyes.

Izumi nodded. The family resemblance was hard to miss. She was a splitting image of Chihiro; the only thing different was their different hair color. Chihiro's hair was brown; Izumi's was of a slightly darker shade, almost black. Even so, it was difficult to tell them apart. "Chihiro was like an older sister I never had," she said as she looked away. She did not need to start crying again, not in front of Chihiro's two closest friends. They were having a hard time themselves, and she didn't want them worrying about and comforting her.

"Take it easy… You really don't have to hide your grief you know," Kojin said, almost inaudibly. He threw the empty packet drink in the trash and turned to walk off in the other direction. Miyu managed a wan smile at her. "It was nice meeting you. I'll see you later," she said and hurried after Kojin.

_Cousin… You can't be dead. You just… can't. I know, somehow, you're alive somewhere. I can feel it…_

* * *

Haku eyed the empty cell with a look of disgust across his handsome face. He did NOT need this so freaking early in the morning. Still glaring at what was left of the cell that used to hold Nimokushi, he listened to a guard give his report.

"We don't understand what had happened, Haku-sama. The cell was specially designed to counter any magic he had, with numerous spells placed on it to prevent his escape. All we know is that there was a blast, the two guards positioned outside his cell were dead by the time others had rushed here, and Nimokushi was gone."

Haku stepped through the debris, racking his brain for possible methods Nimokushi could have used to get out. _How the hell had that bastard done it? I doubt even I could break out of this cell._ With Haku's level of magic, that was really saying something. Haku rubbed his temples. He felt a headache coming on. Haku glanced up at the guard, to see the other man shifting nervously under his gaze.

"It really isn't your fault," Haku told him calmly, a hint of amusement in his voice. Earning the title of "Lord of the Spirit World" had given him respect from others. He didn't mind that. It was the fear of him that he found unwanted. "Given that he was the previous lord of the Spirit World, I had expected him to break out sooner or later. So it isn't particularly surprising that this cell wasn't enough to hold him. I trust you treated him justly?"

"Hai, Haku-sama, we gave him fresh food daily, and treated him well." The guard replied as Haku stopped to examine something on the floor of the cell.

"What's this…?" Haku murmured to himself as he knelt down and blew away some of the dust on the floor. _What the…_

Carved into the stone floor, and previously hidden by the dust, were the words: _Darkness... that fool Haku, he didn't see the meaning behind my actions, I will accomplish what he failed to do, I will return..._

"Haku-sama?" the guard asked, uncertain of what to do.

"Get this place cleaned up. Leave this matter to me," Haku replied as he hastily walked out of the cell, and then the prison, trying to banish the memory of the words from his mind, anxiety and a trace of fear detectable on his face.

"I will accomplish what he failed to do, I will return..."

This was not good.

* * *

"Tadaima," Haku called out as he entered the small cottage he shared with Chihiro.

"Okaeri," Chihiro's voice came from the kitchen. She had to be cooking dinner. Grinning, Haku used his magic to fly himself to the kitchen. He knew Chihiro was miffed whenever he used magic around the house.

Chihiro was at the stove, frying something in a pan. The food smelled delicious. Chihiro's cooking improved everyday, and Haku found his mouth watering. He was hungry.

"What are we having tonight?" He whispered near Chihiro's ear and wrapped his arms around her waist. He knew Chihiro's ear was sensitive, and nipped gently at it. Chihiro squirmed against him.

"Stop that," she said sternly, struggling to hold the pan steady with Haku's arms around her. It was getting harder as Haku started feathering light kisses on her neck, "If you keep that up, our dinner will burn."

Haku pouted, and reluctantly let go of Chihiro. He wasn't about to forfeit his dinner, no matter how much he had missed Chihiro at work. He wandered around the kitchen, waiting for Chihiro to finish. He got some cutlery out of the drawers and started setting the table for two. This happened nearly everyday; he got home, tried to get Chihiro's attention while she was getting dinner ready, and his wife threatened him with the prospect of no dinner to get him to stop it. Of course, they occasionally let their dinner go up in smoke, and went out to eat instead.

Chihiro finally turned off the stove, and scooped the food out onto a plate. She placed the plate onto the table, together with the other dishes she had prepared. She and Haku settled down and began eating.

"Hm… I swear, your cooking gets better everyday," Haku smiled at Chihiro, once they had finished dinner. "How are things in the house?"

Chihiro got up to clear the table, but before doing so, she planted a kiss on Haku's lips. "They're great. Zeniibaa-san was really nice have to let us live here."

The kind old sorceress had not joined them for dinner today, as she was out running an errand. Zeniibaa had saved both their lives four years ago, and had offered to let them stay in her cottage.

"There's no one but me around here," Zeniibaa had said, "It gets rather lonely without any other human contact."

Gratefully, the couple had moved in. Chihiro often helped Zeniibaa with the household chores, and kept the old lady company when she was feeling lonely. In return, Zeniibaa let them stay here. It was a win-win situation.

It had been a difficult choice for Chihiro, and she had sacrificed many things to live in the Spirit World. She would never see her family again, and they would never know where she had gone. She would be as good as dead to them; she had simply disappeared.

Sometimes, she wondered what it would have been like if she had gone back to the human world. It had not been easy to let go of her family; she sometimes woke up in the middle of the night, crying, remembering her family and the ones she loved. But Haku would hold her, comfort her, and she would remember why she had let go of her previous life. She was with the man she loved, and there were many people in the Spirit World who loved her too.

She was happy.

Chihiro finished washing the dishes, and Haku pulled her into a very involved kiss.

"Now, let's finish what we started ne?" he whispered and carried her up to their bedroom.

* * *

Izumi flopped onto her bed. She closed her eyes for a while and heaved a huge sigh of relief. The school term was finally over, and she could relax and forget about her studies for the time being. Perhaps she would go finishing or animal watching in the forest. Her hands itched for the feel of her fishing rod.

Izumi got up and walked over to the chest at the corner of her room. She opened it and pulled out her fishing rod, testing the reel and nylon string.

"Whew, It's still in perfect working condition, I thought it would be rusty…" she murmured as she pretended to cast the line.

She changed out of her school uniform and into her outdoor clothes. Throwing her rucksack over her shoulder, she opened her door and was prepared to go out when a dusty book fell from her cupboard and onto the floor. Turning around, she picked up the book and after a moment's hesitation, put it into her rucksack, and left after sticking a note onto the refrigerator for her parents.

Izumi walked into the cool shade of the forest, and hooked a small worm onto the end of her fishing rod before casting the line out deep into the river. The river ran through the forest, and was her favourite fishing spot.

Sitting with her back against a sturdy tree, she watched as the river surface shimmered and sparkled in the sunlight that passed through the leaves and branches of the trees. _Mystical River… It really lives up to its name… Its beauty is nearly unrivaled…_ she let her thoughts run wild, remembering how the government had nearly cut down the forest four years ago to build more houses. Remembering how much she had cried because she had loved this river, remembering how Chihiro had vanished without a trace, remembering how the government had stopped their plans after the townsfolk had heard rumors that the missing girl had run away because she had loved the forest so much.

Her thoughts finally coming to rest on the book she had brought, she reached into her rucksack and pulled it out. She blew the layer of dust on the cover page off and used her sleeve to wipe away the grime that had collected on it over the years. Izumi's eyes widened when she realized what the book was: Chihiro's diary, written when the missing girl had been ten years old.

Flipping the book open, Izumi turned to the first page, and began to read…


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Haku woke up the next morning to a backrub. _Chihiro_. He smiled into his pillow, letting out a sigh as Chihiro worked her nimble fingers over his back. Haku loved Chihiro's backrubs. She had this way of finding every knot and tense muscle in his back. He had asked her where she had learnt how, and she had cheekily grinned and replied, "Everyone has their secrets."

"Mmh. A little to the left, yeah that's it." Haku murmured, as Chihiro obeyed and worked her magic on a particularly stubborn crank in his lower back.

"You're so tense," Chihiro said softly, "bad day at work?"

Damn. He hadn't told her about Nimokushi's escape. He had meant to, really. But he hadn't wanted to spoil a perfectly mundane evening at that time. _Who knows how long those evenings will last, now that Nimokushi's loose. _He shook off that thought. Where the heck had that come from anyway?

He turned around and sat up. Chihiro looked at him questioningly; Haku didn't usually voluntarily stop the backrubs. Her expression quickly shifted from curiosity to a "you-had-better-tell-me-what's-going-on-or-you'll-be-sleeping-on-the-couch" look. Haku sighed again, this time it wasn't a relaxed sigh.

"Remember Nimokushi?"

Chihiro gave a slight nod, and said stiffly, "Yes."

"Well, he sort of…"

"Sort of what?" Chihiro's voice sounded very dangerous, and Haku really didn't want to spend the night on the couch.

"SortofbrokeoutofprisonandnowIthinkhe'sgonnacomeafteryouforrevenge." Haku said everything in one breath, flopped down on the bed, and buried his head under the pillow.

Chihiro remained silent for a moment, and Haku lifted the pillow off his face to look at her.

"Well," she said calmly after managing to decipher what Haku had said, "I don't know why you didn't tell me earlier, but I'm sure you'll be able to handle it."

Haku smiled, and wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you."

"What for?" Chihiro asked, and buried her face in his shoulder.

"For believing in me." Haku replied, and ran his hands through Chihiro's hair, "For not being mad at me for not telling you sooner; for giving me hope, and confidence."

"Of course I believe in you," Chihiro pulled away from Haku and looked at him seriously, "You're my husband."

She added with a mischievous grin after a moment, and poked his nose lightly, "You'll protect me no matter what, Lord of the Spirit World."

Haku grinned back, and noticed that Chihiro had pulled on her blue bathrobe. The only thing he had covering him up was the blanket. He grabbed Chihiro and pushed her onto the bed, kissing her fiercely. She kissed back with equal enthusiasm, before breaking their lip-lock.

"You'll be late for work," she said, a little breathless.

"I'm the boss. They can't fire me for it." He smirked and went back to what he was doing.

One could say that they had gotten quite far, and were thus very annoyed when someone knocked on their door. They ignored it, hoping whoever was there would go away. The pounding on their door became more persistent.

Chihiro paused. "You'd better get that."

"Now?!" Haku asked incredulously.

"Yes, now. It may be someone from work."

"Whoever it is can just bugger off."

"I'm not saying you can't tell him or her that. I'm not having someone barging in because they think something is wrong while we're in the middle of something."

"We're already in the middle of something."

Chihiro glared and Haku. Grumbling, he got off the bed and hastily pulled on some clothes. He stormed to the door, pulled it open, and snapped, "What?"

"Well it's nice to see you too," the person at the door looked amused and raised an eyebrow, "My, my, I haven't interrupted anything have I?"

Haku shot a dirty look at the newcomer, "You know damn well you have Shinji."

Shinji grinned unremorsefully and shoved past Haku, paying no attention to the older man's protests. Haku had met Shinji when he was out on an errand in the mountains. The boy had been delirious and critically injured, and would have died if Haku hadn't found him and treated his wounds. Haku had brought him back to the bathhouse, and Shinji had fainted, sleeping like the dead for a whole week. When he woke up, he had no memories whatsoever, save his name.

Seeing that he had nowhere to go, Haku had made Yubaba agree to let him work in the bathhouse. The woman was a slave driver, but work would keep Shinji occupied, and give him a place to stay as well as food.

Haku hadn't realized that Shinji, despite his amnesia, could be a downright and utter pain in the ass.

He seemed to make it a point to get on Haku's nerves, and his goal in life was apparently to disrupt Haku's sex life as much as possible.

He told Shinji to wait in the living room while he went back to the bedroom.

"Who was it?" Chihiro asked.

"Shinji."

"Oh. Okay." Chihiro got up and began to get pull on her clothes. Her bathrobe had been removed sometime earlier. Shinji had interrupted their… activities… many, many times. She and Haku knew they weren't going to get anywhere with Shinji in the house, as he always showed no signs of leaving anytime soon once he got there.

"What do you want?" Haku went out to the living room again and asked Shinji irritably.

"Yubaba gave me a day off."

Haku gave Shinji a look that could have withered any living thing except Shinji. Yubaba couldn't have given Shinji a day off just so the younger boy could disrupt his morning sex. "So?"

"She wants to know why you aren't at the meeting."

"Meeting?" Haku stared at Shinji blankly.

"Yes, meeting. It's a conference where old fogies get together to discuss seemingly important issues like the weather."

Haku glared at Shinji again. "I'm not old. And I didn't know there was a meeting."

"Well now you do. So I suggest you get your ass there now."

"You're a real pest you know?"

"Aw, you're just cranky because I interrupted something I shouldn't have again."

"Jerk."

"That's why you people love me," Shinji finished the conversation smugly, and smirked, "Now go take a cold shower before you leave.

Haku rolled his eyes. The meeting had to be about Nimokushi's escape. Muttering impurities under his breath about ungrateful people he'd saved in the mountains, he went grabbed his work clothes and stormed into the bathroom. He came out fifteen minutes later looking less annoyed than he felt and went to tell Chihiro he was leaving.

"Chihiro? I have to leave. There's a meeting someone neglected to tell me about." Haku walked over to Chihiro and gave her a peck on the cheek.

"Okay. Be safe."

"I'm always safe." Haku grinned and hastily left the house for work, ignoring Shinji, who was in the living room. Yubaba never was happy when he was late.

* * *

_Dear Diary,_

_I cannot believe what just happened to me. It all seemed like a dream, but not exactly. I know the events of the past few days weren't just parts of my imagination. Haku, Yubaba, Zenibaa, No-face,… I have the hair band to prove they're real. Haku… Haku made a promise. We will see each other again. Won't we?_

Izumi finished reading the first page of Chihiro's diary. It was a very short entry. Who was Haku? Or those other people? Chihiro had never mentioned them around her. And Chihiro told her everything. The hair band? Could it be the one Chihiro wore everyday? She frowned, and turned to the next page.

_Dear Diary,_

_I guess I should tell you what happened a few days ago. We were moving to our new house, far away from the old one. I miss my friends, but I'll probably never see them again. Anyway, we were driving to our new home, and as usual, dad just had to take a short cut. Predictably, we got lost. And ended up in this forest not too far away from our present home. We stopped at a huge red gateway that leads into a tunnel, and dad and mom went in to explore, despite my protests that we should leave._

_At the end of a tunnel was a field, and some other structures. Dad said that it was an old abandoned theme park. We strolled across the field, and jumped over a stream. We came to a restaurant, but there was no one there. Dad and Mom sat down and began to eat, saying that they would pay for the food later when someone appeared. _

_I wandered off to explore the place, and found that it was weird that there was no one in sight…_

Izumi continued to read the diary, her eyes widening at every event Chihiro described.

_Haku made a promise. I know he'll keep it. He'll come and find me… Someday._

By the time Izumi had finished, she didn't even know what to think; a boy turning into a dragon. It was absurd! Chihiro sounded like she really had a thing for this Haku guy too. "Haku"… Izumi frowned. "Haku" written in Kanji was "white". Dragon. "White dragon"? Chihiro had a painting of a white dragon in her room.

Izumi hurriedly stuffed the diary into her backpack and grabbed her fishing rod. She took off at a run. Chihiro found the red gateway in this forest. It had to be somewhere. Izumi knew this area remarkably well for a girl her age. She would find it, then find Chihiro, and bring her cousin back even if it killed her.

* * *

"You're late." Yubaba said coldly as Haku strolled into the room.

"Why yes I am," Haku stated as-a-matter-of-factly, sat down in his chair at the head of the table, and surveyed the situation. The council, and every single important sorcerer or spirit, and a few minor gods, had gathered in the room. It wasn't surprising; Nimokushi was a serious threat to the safety of their world. "I wasn't informed about the meeting."

"As I was saying," Yubaba glared at Haku, "We need to be prepared when Nimokushi strikes. We know neither his motives nor what he's planning; so this is going to be difficult. Are there any suggestions?"

"We could gather an army to fight him." One of the gods, Tsukiyoshi, spoke up.

"We've never done it before. The troops will require training, and that will take time. We don't know how long Nimokushi will wait before he strikes."

"An army is feasible. But we will need more short-term means of defending ourselves."

"We should send someone to hunt Nimokushi down." A sorceress by the name of Reikuya suggested.

"We don't have anyone strong enough." Another spirit protested.

"Send a group of powerful magicians."

"We don't know how powerful he currently is. It would be stupid to waste any potential firepower."

Haku watched and listened as they debated over different decisions. Somehow or another, the debates grew more and more heated, and turned into full-out arguments not exactly related to the topic at hand.

"Oh so now my suggestion is absurd?"

"Of course it is you brainless twit."

"That is the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard!"

"My great-great-granddaughter has a better grasp on strategy than you do."

"Shut up bitch."

"How dare you! Shriveled up, senile old newt!"

Haku resisted the urge to thump his head on the table while he watched the council snipe back and forth. Without warning, the God of Knowledge popped up next to him and murmured, "A troublesome lot aren't they?"

"Good God," Haku jumped about ten feet in the air, "With all due respect, sir, please don't do that again."

"I'll keep it in mind," the God of Knowledge said dryly, watching the council bicker. He looked highly amused. Haku hesitated, if the God of Knowledge wanted to make his presence known to the rest, he would have done so earlier.

After a good ten minutes, when things got physical and one sorcerer picked up his drink and hurled it at another, Haku decided that he'd better put a stop to this before things got any uglier.

"People, settle down," He tried lamely. They ignored him, no surprise there. Haku saw the God of Knowledge's lips twitch. Haku got up from his chair, picked up a stack of heavy books, and slammed them down onto the table. The noise got the attention of the rest, and they stopped what they were doing to stare at Haku.

"Now that I've gotten your attention," Haku gestured to the person now standing next to him, "Perhaps you would notice we have a guest?"


	3. Chapter 2

**_LadyRainStarDragon_****_: Shinji and Izumi? Hm. You'll just have to wait and see. :D_**

**_kurenoharu_****_: Okay, I'll cut down on the love scenes. I promise. Chihiro spending everyday in the house? Uhm. I'll ask freezingsaphire about it._**

**_Thanks for your reviews. )_**

**_Author's Notes/Warnings: This chapter is short, because I got reeally stuck on it and I can only thank God for freezingsaphire's help. I've been told that my characters are rather OOC, and I apologize. I'm pretty new to fanfiction, so I'm not too sure about the characterization and whatnot._**

**_Disclaimer: Izumi and the God of Knowledge are freezingsaphire's. Shinji is mine. The other characters belong to anyone but us. _**

Chapter 2

_Where is it?_ Izumi, having run out of breath, had taken to walking instead of running. She kicked a rock that was standing in her path, and regretted it immediately as she now had a sore toe to add to her tiredness.

Naturally, she did what miserable people usually did; she started crying. Not full-blown sobs when she had cried in her mother's lap, just tears rolling down her cheeks. She wiped them away angrily, and sat down on the rock she had kicked. She took the diary out of her bag and flipped through it. Perhaps Chihiro had left clues on how to get to the gateway in there.

_Dear Diary,_

_I've made a decision. I will continue living life like any ordinary kid. I won't forget the wonderful things that have happened to me, but I don't really want people thinking I'm weird or anything; me talking about dragons and babies bigger than a fully-grown man. I painted a white dragon and pasted it in my room, to serve as a reminder in addition to the hair band. I even drew a map to the red gateway behind the painting, as I have been constantly going into the forest to visit it. It has taken so much self-restraint not to just walk in again. Oh, I've gotta go. Mom's calling me down for dinner. See you later. –Chihiro_

The painting. Izumi got up and started running to Chihiro's house, her previous fatigue forgotten. She finally reached Chihiro's house, and made a mad dash for her cousin's room. The painting of the white dragon was hanging above the bed. In the four years she had disappeared, Chihiro's parents had refused to change anything in the room, firmly believing their daughter would come back one day.

Izumi carefully peeled the painting off the wall, and turned the piece of paper around. True enough, there was some sort of a map, drawn like any drawing done by a ten-year-old.

"Where are you going?" Chihiro's mother asked as Izumi ran out of the house with the map/painting in her hand.

"To find Chihiro!" Izumi called back as her aunt just stared at her, too stunned for words.

* * *

Haku thought the Council's reaction to their visitor was rather interesting; Yubaba had fainted, half of the rest had practically fallen over their feet apologizing, a quarter had freaked out and they were muttering to themselves, and the rest had just stared. 

The God of Knowledge had a long-suffering look on his face. He looked like he wanted to yell "Just stop apologizing and let me speak damn it!" Instead, he cleared his throat, "I'd like to speak now."

The council fell silent, and listened attentively to what he was about to say.

"I suggest," he began slowly, (some of the council members still had dazed looks on their faces) "That we gather an army, and send someone after Nimokushi. I already have someone in mind, and I doubt he will fail to subdue the ex-lord, but it would be wise if the rest of the Spirit World were prepared."

"Sir, who do you have in mind?" Haku asked, fearing that he already knew the answer.

The God of Knowledge just blinked at him, "You of course."

"But there are other spirits more powerful than I am," Haku protested, even though he didn't know if what he said was true. He really didn't want to leave Chihiro alone with a psycho like Nimokushi on the loose, even though he was supposedly hunting down said psycho on the loose.

"You're Lord of the Spirit World for a reason boy, and a damn good reason it is too," the God of Knowledge replied, "You're fricking powerful. You would be even without the extra magic you got when you stepped into Lamba Core. Hell, you're even more powerful than your teacher Yubaba over there, and that's saying a lot," everyone glanced at Yubaba, who was still limp in her seat, "even though she's currently out cold."

"Uh," was all Haku managed as he blushed slightly; he wasn't used to receiving compliments as long as that.

"All right, discussion's over," The God of Knowledge ignored Haku, "I'd like to speak to Kohaku alone."

The rest of the Council filed out of the room, a few of them murmuring good-lucks to Haku.

"So, Nimokushi," the God of Knowledge began, "anything in particular you want to know about him?"

"What are his motives this time?" Haku asked. _Please let it not be revenge. Please let it not be revenge. Please let it not be revenge_

The God of Knowledge shook his head, "I'm afraid I can't tell you."

"Oh," Haku wilted. Well that was a fat load of help.

"Besides," the God of Knowledge grinned, "it's so much more fun if everything is a surprise."

He had to be kidding. Haku asked, "What must I do to stop him?"

"Find three magical items, and seal him away. There is no guarantee that the seal will be able to hold him forever, but he shouldn't be able to escape for let's say… a few centuries at least?"

"Where do I find them?"

"That, my dear Kohaku, is where the fun comes in."

Haku resisted the urge to throttle the god, "Where do I start?"

"Try the mountains you found Shinji in."

"Okay. What are the magical items and how do I use them?"

"I'll just let you figure that out."

"Right-o. I'm looking for three magical items I have absolutely no clue about with a lunatic on the loose trying to kill me, and I'm supposed to seal the lunatic away with the three magical items I have absolutely no clue about. It'll just be a clinch won't it? My wife may be in danger and I can't come swooping to her rescue if she needs help because I'm hunting down that lunatic. Well that's just dandy," Haku knew he was being bitter. He just couldn't care less.

"Sarcasm is the lowest form of wit Kohaku," the God of Knowledge said solemnly.

"I forgot to mention a god who's a total sicko," Haku thought uncharitably. He was ready to tear his hair out by the handfuls.

"I heard that," said God commented lightly.

"You read my thoughts?"

"I read everyone's thoughts."

"Oh."

"It's okay. I've heard worse; some of which are actually pretty amusing. Anything else?"

"What are the chances…" Haku paused for a moment, and said softly, "of me succeeding? An army isn't going to stop Nimokushi. He's too powerful. He'll wipe them all out in an instant."

"Have more faith in yourself, Kohaku," the God of Knowledge offered one of his rare, genuine smiles, "I meant every word I said earlier, about you being powerful."

"Thank you," Haku whispered.

The God of Knowledge cocked his head to the side, as if listening to something. He grinned, "Well, duty calls. Good luck."

He saw Haku's stunned look and his grin turned into a smirk, "I'll try to make things as interesting and fun as possible along the way."

With that, he disappeared.

"Interesting and fun for whom I wonder…" Haku muttered to himself.

* * *

_Finally. _Izumi thought as she stood before the red gateway. She frowned. _I should have left mom a note. She would be worried._

Shaking those thoughts of, Izumi walked towards the red gateway, and through it. She didn't see the God of Knowledge's trademark smirk, nor did she see him cracking open the invisible doors separating the two worlds, just like he did for her cousin Chihiro and her parents ten years ago.

* * *

**_Whee My first cliffhanger!_**


	4. Chapter 3

_**BattleAngelKurumi: Thanks for your review. Yeah. They'll meet.**_

_**Author's Notes: Sorry for the long wait. This chapter ate my brain. The first scene is sappy and clichéd beyond all reason. It'll probably be the most sappy scene in this entire fic. So please bear with me for a while. After this chapter comes all the action. :D**_

_**Disclaimer: Storyline and Izumi are freezingsapphire's. Shinji's mine. Other characters are from the creators of Spirited Away.**_

Chapter 3

Haku really didn't want to leave.

Haku really, _really_ didn't want to leave.

Unfortunately, he had to. A small group of people had gathered outside his house to see him off. Most of them consisted of his old friends from the bathhouse, though there were a few fellow sorcerers he sometimes hung out with. Each of them said their goodbyes, and some of them handed him little farewell gifts.

Finally, the only two left were Shinji and Chihiro. Shinji stepped up to Haku.

"Well," Shinji said lightly, "don't die."

Haku rolled his eyes, "Stay out of trouble kiddo."

"Yeah, yeah. Whenever have I done otherwise?"

"All the time," Haku deadpanned.

"Fine. Don't do anything I wouldn't do."

"That leaves me with a whole lot of options now doesn't it?"

"Precisely."

They grinned at each other, and hugged briefly. Haku would miss Shinji, despite how annoying the teenager could be.

"I've got to get back to work. Or that old cow will have my head," Shinji said and added with a smirk, "I'll leave you two to it then."

With that, he set off in the direction of the bathhouse, whistling, and left Haku and Chihiro alone.

Haku had told Chihiro about his "mission" the night before. She had protested and shed tears over the news, but Haku had managed to console her, and they had agreed that he should leave as soon as possible, so he could get back sooner. They had spent the night curled up on their couch together, just holding each other in silence. They both knew there was a chance that they would never see each other again.

Haku kissed Chihiro fiercely, but she pulled away, and offered him a weak smile, "Hold on. I have something for you."

She ran into the house, Haku trailing after her. Haku waited in the living room, and heard Chihiro rummaging around their bedroom for something. He breathed in the slight sandalwood scent of the cottage. It always soothed his nerves, as the scent meant that he was home. Who knew when he would come back, or, if he would ever come back in the first place?

Chihiro came out of the bedroom, looking triumphant, probably at having found whatever she was looking for. She held a box in her hands. She smiled at Haku, and flipped open the lid of the box. Inside the box lay two silver rings of different designs. The larger one had an intricate and detailed dragon carved onto it, and the smaller one just had a small diamond.

"I know our wedding ceremony wasn't a western one, but in the human world lots of people exchange rings during weddings. I meant to give this to you later, but…" Chihiro trailed off.

_There may never be another chance._ The words lay unspoken between them.

"They're beautiful," Haku smiled back at Chihiro, kissed her on the cheek, and took the smaller ring out of the box, "Uh. Am I supposed to put it on for you?"

Chihiro nodded and held out her hand, letting Haku slip the ring on her finger. They repeated the process, this time Chihiro being the one to slip the ring onto Haku's finger. Haku flexed his fingers a little, and pulled the ring off. Chihiro looked hurt for a second.

"I'm not used to wearing it," he explained, he held out his other hand, palm facing the ceiling, lights appeared at his fingertips and the streams of light gathered in the center of his palm, finally forming a silver chain. He slipped the chain through the ring, making the ring look like a pendant, and put the necklace on, "I feel more comfortable this way."

Chihiro stood on tiptoe and gave him a quick peck on the forehead, "I don't mind, as long as you carry it with you."

They stayed in awkward silence for a moment. These silences were very rare between them, and normally only happened right after they resolved a quarrel.

"Well then," Haku said, "I guess I'd better get going."

Tears gathered in Chihiro's eyes, and she nodded, "Sayo—"

Haku silenced her with a finger on her lips before she could complete the word. He removed his finger kissed her chastely and gently.

"There are no need for goodbyes," he whispered, "after all, we'll see each other again, ne?"

Chihiro nodded again as Haku brushed away a tear that rolled down her cheek. They went outside, and held on to each other for what seemed like hours.

"Aishiteru, Chi," Haku whispered hoarsely, using the nickname he had picked for her when they had first become lovers, "Zuuto, aishiteru."

"I love you too," Chihiro murmured, and tightened her grip on Haku, "forever and always."

They finally pulled away, and Haku transformed into his dragon form. Growling affectionately, he rested his head on Chihiro's shoulder for a moment, the dragon-form of an embrace, and flew into the sky.

_We'll see each other again. That's why we never said goodbye._

Their thoughts were identical as Chihiro watched Haku soar away from her. They would meet again. Haku would return, safe and sound, and they would live the rest of their life in peace.

Haku and Chihiro tried to believe.

They couldn't.

* * *

**_Author's random insert: Aww. Everyone give Chihiro and Haku a hug._**

* * *

"Shinji! SHINJI!" Yubaba's screech was heard throughout the bathhouse. 

Everyone, including and especially Shinji, winced. Nothing good ever happened when Yubaba shrieked like that.

"What did you do now?" Ayako, a friend of Shinji's whispered harshly. Shinji shrugged and finished scrubbing the tub he was cleaning. He threw the towel he was using on the ground and made his way up to Yubaba's 'lair'.

He reached the top floor, and walked out of the elevator. After a few steps, the world began to spin before his eyes and he stumbled and had to lean against the wall to prevent himself from falling flat on his face.

_Damn it. It's one of those memory things again._

Shinji often suffered from dizzy spells and headaches whenever bits and patches of his memory returned. They were often fuzzy and too short for Shinji to make anything out of them. Sometimes, he just wished he could remember it all at once, and forget about it. Well, okay. Bad phrasing there.

_:: Screams. A woman screaming. A bright, purple light. A dagger. Blood. Lots of blood…::_

And it stopped.

Shinji stood up straight again and rubbed his temples. What the hell was that about?

"Fucking memory problem," he muttered to himself, and he resumed his path to Yubaba's office. He opened the door without knocking, the magical doorknob muttering something about youngsters these days having no manners.

Shinji all but breezed arrogantly into Yubaba's office. He put on a nonchalant attitude, just to annoy the old woman. "Yeah?"

"Watch your manners _boy_," Yubaba hissed, "the only reason I let you into the bathhouse was because of that _Haku_." She spat out his name as if it were some sort of disgusting swearword. "He is not here now, and won't be for a long time. So you'd better not have the nerve to speak to me in that insolent tone of yours."

"Whatever. You called me up for this?"

"No. I called you up because there have been complaints that you've been nicking food from the _customers_, of all people."

"I'm a growing teenager. And the food we ordinary folk get can't really be called food. More like fodder or chicken feed. Can't the bathhouse afford proper food? Because, no offense to your cooks, those things we currently consume just suck in so many ways."

Yubaba was rapidly turning a vivid shade of red. She looked like she was about to breathe fire. Literally. "You litt—"

"Look, I'll stop taking the customers' food, okay? So s'all good. Bye now." Shinji interrupted and gave a little wave as he turned and walked out of Yubaba's office. "Say 'hi' to the baby for me."

Yubaba seethed, but let him walk out anyway. She had mellowed so much after Haku had left. Truth be told, she missed her assistant. Even though she often acted like she detested him for leaving.

"Baba-chan," the huge baby lumbered out of his playroom.

"Hai? What is it?" Yubaba cooed.

"Baba-chan looks sad," the baby tilted his head curiously.

"Do I now?" Yubaba mused, more to herself than the baby, "That boy reminds me of Haku. They have the same attitude, even though he shows it more than Haku does. It's time for your nap. Baba-chan will tuck you in, ne?"

* * *

Izumi walked through the tunnel. It was completely dark. She shivered slightly, and it was not entirely because of the cold. 

"Damn, I should never have come here," she muttered and stopped to tie a loose shoelace._ But it's too late to turn back now_, a little voice in her head reasoned. Sighing heavily, she stood up straight again, and noticed light coming from somewhere in front of her. It was the end of the tunnel.

Eager to get out, she started running towards the light. Izumi knew she was one-step closer to finding Chihiro. Izumi put her hand in front of her face to shield her eyes from the glaring light as she exited the tunnel. She blinked rapidly, her eyes adjusting to the new lighting.

_A field. Just like in Cousin Chihiro's diary._

Izumi took a step forward, and hesitated. She was in a foreign world. What was she to do if she got into trouble?

"I'll deal with it when the time comes," she told herself firmly and walked bravely across the field.

Behind her, the God of Knowledge grinned. "These humans are just so entertaining," was his last thought. And he disappeared.


	5. Chapter 4

**_MaNgA-bOy-LoVeR_****_: Well, I like Haku. But I mentioned earlier that there will be character-torture in this fic. So… Yeah. Thanks for reviewing._**

**_CSI-123_****_: Actually, I know quite a number of people who know about and write fanfiction in Singapore. freezingsaphire (the plot-master) is from Singapore too. Thanks for your review, or in your case, reviews. XD_**

_**Disclaimer: Disclaimer? What's a disclaimer?**_

Chapter 4

Shinji sighed and flopped onto one of the chairs in the bathhouse. Cleaning tables and polishing the floorboard wasn't as easy as one thought. He flung the rag he was using on the ground and rested his head on the tabletop, all shiny and clean. Thanks to him. A customer came and sat down at one of the tables, and Ayako hurriedly served him a drink.

The customer was engrossed in a book, and accidentally toppled the glass over when he reached for it, spilling its contents all over the table and onto the spotless floor. Shinji, who had been watching him out of the corner of his eye, stood up so quickly that his chair fell backwards with a clatter. He had _not_ spent four fucking hours scrubbing and wiping for this _imbecile_ to come and mess it all up in a matter of seconds.

Shinji barely resisted the urge to kick a nearby table just to cause a commotion. Gritting his teeth, he picked up the rag from where it lay on the floor and stalked over to where the customer was. He was going to give that damned customer a piece of his mind.

Fortunately, for both Shinji and the customer (more of the latter), Ayako saw the warning signs (read: the black cloud looming above Shinji's head, figuratively of course), and stepped in front of Shinji.

"Sorry," the customer muttered.

"Not to worry. I'll clean that up," she smiled politely at the customer and gave Shinji a pointed look (glare), "Shinji, would you run up to the mountains to collect some herbs? I think Kamaji-san is running low on some of them."

Fuming and muttering impurities under his breath, Shinji handed her the rag and went of in search of a basket to collect the herbs. As much as he liked Ayako, he got quite annoyed when she always stopped him from doing something he wanted to do so badly. When he'd yelled at her for it, she'd just replied smoothly that by helping him to keep a lid on his temper, she was saving his sorry ass. And it was true, too.

Because the something he wanted to do was usually (always) stupid, reckless, and very likely to get him thrown out of the bathhouse, for example, kicking a customer's ass.

"I sometimes wonder if I should thank Haku for saving me or hit him for it. Anything would be better than working in this shithouse," he thought uncharitably as he slung the basket he found over his shoulder and prepared to set off for the mountains. But first, he would pay Chihiro a visit.

The mountain he usually went to was near the cottage anyway. It wasn't as if anyone would know besides him and Chihiro, and the young lady probably wouldn't mind company anyway.

* * *

Footsteps sounded on the cottage's floorboard, and Chihiro's head snapped up from where she had fixed her gaze on the kitchen tabletop. Had Haku come back? It couldn't be, he hadn't even been gone for a day… 

Nevertheless, it had already felt like eternity to Chihiro.

Even if it wasn't Haku, the person who had arrived brought a smile to Chihiro's lips. She ran forward and hugged the old sorceress who had returned from her errand.

"Okaeri, Zenibaa-san," she said.

"It's good to be back," Zenibaa replied, and hugged Chihiro back. She pulled away and regarded Chihiro sternly.

"How are things?" Zenibaa asked.

"They're great," Chihiro replied, and began rambling on about what had been going on in the house and other mundane things."

"It's good that everything's normal," Zenibaa smiled, "but you neglected to tell me how you are doing."

Chihiro's smile faltered for a moment, before it returned completely, "I'm doing okay."

That moment, however, wasn't short enough for Zenibaa not to notice. "Nonsense. There are certain things you can't hide from me, child." Her steely gaze softened, "I heard about Haku."

Chihiro's shoulders drooped, and she was suddenly very interested in studying the patters on the wooden floorboard, "You did, huh…"

"Chihiro," Zenibaa put her hand under Chihiro's chin and forced the young woman to look at her, "he'll be fine."

"Yeah, I know," Chihiro automatically replied.

"Liar," Zenibaa said lightly, a great difference from the harshness of that word. She looked Chihiro in the eye. "You don't think he's coming back."

"I do!" Chihiro protested, albeit not as vehemently as Zenibaa hoped, "He's coming back… He is…" She trailed off, her gaze sliding back to their position on the floorboard.

Zenibaa sighed, not believing Chihiro for a second. But she let it go this time.

"I'm going to… step out for a while. I need some fresh air," a euphemism for 'I want to get the hell out of this conversation.' "I'll see you later, Zenibaa-san."

Zenibaa nodded in acknowledgement, and Chihiro walked out of the house. Chihiro let her feet walk of their own accord, as she let her mind go blank. It hurt. It hurt too much to think about Haku. About anything.

She didn't realize that she had gotten on the train that carried her away from the cottage. It used to be a one-way railway, but Haku became the Lord of the Spirit World, and decided that it was necessary to construct a parallel track with a train that ran in the opposite direction.

She didn't need a ticket; the semi-transparent conductor on the bus recognized her, partly because she took the train pretty often, and partly because everyone that wasn't blind in the Spirit World did. Being the wife of the Lord of the Spirit World did have its merits.

When her feet finally stopped moving, she finally paid attention to her surroundings. She had come to the field where she had Haku had promised they would meet again ten years ago. Under normal circumstances, she would have been happy to be at the field; it always provided her with a sense of calm and tranquility, and served as a place where she could sort her thoughts out.

Now, however, all the field did was serve as a painful reminder as to why she was feeling so miserable.

Chihiro slumped down on the grass, paying no attention to the mud and dirt that got onto her clothes. She stared up at the azure sky, wondering where Haku was by now. Tears rolled down her cheeks, as she thought of her husband, and she sat up, curled into a fetal position, and started to sob.

She didn't notice the small frame that was staggering towards her.

* * *

Izumi mumbled all sorts of impurities under her breath. Most of it she had learnt from her schoolmates. It just had to be an effing pool of mud that she tripped and fell into. She winced as she put her weight on her left ankle again. _I must have twisted it slightly when I fell_. She reflected. She stopped and sat down on the grass, gently massaging her ankle. 

_This had better be worth all this trouble_. She sighed and got up, and continued to walk across the field. A few minutes later, she saw a figure curled up on the field. It was a woman, she could tell, and the woman's shoulders were trembling slightly. Izumi walked towards her. Perhaps she could help.

"Uhm," Izumi began uncertainly, "are you alright?"

The woman in question's head snapped up to Izumi's soft voice, and Izumi reeled back in shock. Chihiro's eyes widened.

"Chi-Chi—" Izumi couldn't even get her cousin's name out; much less form coherent sentences.

"'Zumi-chan!" Chihiro greeted Izumi with the affectionate nickname she had come up with for her younger cousin. Thank God Chihiro hadn't lost her grasp on the Japanese language completely. "How? What?" Apparently (and not very surprisingly), she wasn't up to forming full-sentences either.

Izumi noted that her cousin had changed, so little, and yet so much. She was no longer a gangly, sixteen-year-old, but had grown into a real woman; matured. She was not exceptionally beautiful; she never had been. But she was still pleasant to look at, and was quite pretty if you looked close enough. She still had that determined look that Izumi knew all to well before she had disappeared.

Once they were done gaping, Izumi threw herself onto her cousin.

"Oof," Chihiro muttered as her head collided with the semi-hard ground she was on. She patted Izumi's head soothingly, before wrinkling her nose. "What on earth happened to you?"

"Mud pool." Izumi replied, as if this answered everything.

"You sure it was only mud?" Chihiro asked dryly, wondering what other horrible things there were in that 'mud pool' her cousin had fallen into. She grunted and pushed Izumi off her, standing up. "Come with me. We'll get you cleaned up. You can explain why and how on earth you're here later."

Izumi nodded and followed Chihiro back to the cottage. She 'ooh-ed' and 'ahh-ed' at everything and everyone they passed by on the way, but other than that, remained silent. Her eyes widened when she saw the train they were getting on, and she had a minor freak-out session when she realized she could see through the conductor, as well as all the other people on the train except Chihiro and herself. Literally.

Chihiro remained silent throughout all this, too wrapped up in her own thoughts.

They arrived at the cottage, and Zenibaa greeted them at the door. "Chihiro! You're all muddy! Come take a shower." She spotted Izumi trailing behind Chihiro and her eyes widened at the obvious resemblance, before she smiled warmly. "You're new, but welcome anyway. Come inside. I see you're in need of a shower and some clean clothes as well."

Izumi nodded and muttered her thanks, following Chihiro and Zenibaa into the house.


	6. Chapter 5

**_Author's Notes: It's alive! I'm sorry, but this'll come out pretty slowly. I'm still a student, and very busy with schoolwork and everything. I'll try my best to keep this going, even though my updates may be irregular._**

**_Disclaimer: One potato two potato three potato four… _**

Chapter 5

Shinji got off the train, shuddering. Even though he had lived in the Spirit World for as long as he could remember (which, technically, wasn't very long) the idea of semi-transparent people gave him the creeps.

The first five minutes of his walk to the cottage passed rather uneventfully, before he felt like he had been on the head by a truck.

_: SHINJI! DON'T! Desperate cries. Shrieking. A crimson pool. The light of a full moon. Blood. Blood… on his hands? DonthurtmepleasedonthurtmepleasepleaseNO. No. Nonononono. Imsorryididntmeantoitwasntmeanttobethiswayimsorryimsorryimsorry. Fearangerregretdespair… :_

Shinji's eyes flew open, and he sat up, gasping. Somehow or another, he'd wound up lying on the dirt path. He frowned. This was unusual. Hell, it was downright freaky. He usually got those flashbacks about once a fortnight, and now two in the same day? Worst of all, this was the most vivid out of all the flashbacks.

Shinji shivered, and it wasn't because it was somewhat chilly outside. _Bloody blue hell. _He stood up and picked up the basket that was lying a few meters away from where he fell, and walked on.

* * *

Izumi took a good look at the interior of the cottage. It seemed a lot smaller from the inside. Nevertheless, it had a rather cozy, homey feeling to it.

"Normally I'd suggest you take a seat," Chihiro eyed Izumi's mud-covered clothes, "but you'd dirty the couch, and I'd have to clean it." She grinned to show Izumi she was kidding.

Zenibaa whapped Chihiro lightly on the back of the head, and conjured up rags which the magicked onto the couch. "I'm not called a sorceress for nothing. We can just throw the rags away later." She offered Izumi a friendly smile.

Izumi just stared.

"You can sit now Izumi." Chihiro said, looking rather amused.

Gingerly, Izumi took a seat on the sofa, remembering her manners after a few seconds and muttering her thanks.

"I'll get you some clean clothes." Chihiro bustled off into her room.

"Tea?" Zenibaa offered.

"Er. That'd be nice." Izumi smiled gratefully.

Zenibaa went to the kitchen to get the tea, and this was where Shinji walked in.

"Yo, Chihiro-san," he began, before stopping short, eyes widening "What on earth happened to you?"

Izumi simply stared at him.

"No Haku to keep you grounded and you end up like this? Good Lord." Shinji said, before squinting. "Wait. You look different, somehow." He tilted his head to the side, still examining Izumi.

"Uhm. Hi? " Izumi offered, really at a loss at what to say to this.

"You talk?" Shinji asked incredulously. He was just wondering why 'Chihiro' had been so silent. "Er. I meant. You talk. Of course, you talk. Shit. That memory thing's really screwing with my head."

Izumi blinked, not sure what she was supposed to say to that.

"So, Chihiro-san." Shinji said, "Why are you… er." Shinji gestured with his hand. "And you smell like… Er. Really bad."

"Who are you?" Izumi asked.

"Aw man, I'm wounded." Shinji put a hand over his heart rather over-dramatically, "You don't have to be this way just because I said you stink."

Izumi began to get annoyed. "Well, I'm sorry if I stink. Have you ever heard of something called tact? And I'm not—"

"I found some clothes that will fit you," Chihiro walked into the living room, carrying a pile of clothes that were meant for Izumi. "Oh, hello, Shinji-kun."

Shinji stared blankly at both of them for a few seconds, before walking towards a wall and thumping his forehead on it.

Thump. Thump. Thump.

Izumi looked at him as if he were on crack.

"Is he always like this?" She whispered to Chihiro.

"Pretty much, yeah." Chihiro said calmly, and glanced at Shinji. "But this is a little extreme, even for him."

"Ah."

Chihiro walked to where Shinji was, and put a hand between his forehead and the wall. "I think that's enough," she said firmly, "why are you banging your head against the wall?"

"Nice to know someone's concerned."

"Yes. That wall happens to be very fragile. You didn't answer my question."

Shinji gave Chihiro a look that bordered on dirty. "It's held up by magic. To answer your question, my head's messed up. I see two of you."

Chihiro looked amused, and removed her hand, since Shinji seemed to have decided to stop damaging the wall. "Well, I see how that would be disturbing. That's my cousin, Izumi. She looks younger. And her hair color is slightly different."

Shinji looked at Izumi, before letting his forehead fall against the wall again.

Thump.

"My head's messed up." Shinji repeated.

"It's always been messed up." Chihiro said dryly.

"I meant more messed up than usual."

"How so?"

"My memory's coming back and fucking with my mind."

Chihiro coughed at Shinji's delicate way of phrasing this, and turned to Izumi. "Why don't you go take a shower first?"

Izumi nodded, looking a little dazed, and walked towards the direction of the bathroom that Chihiro had pointed out.

Chihiro rubbed her temples. She felt a migraine coming on. "Now, about your head… Care to give me something more specific than "my memories are coming back and fucking with my mind?"

"They're coming back," Shinji said, "More often than usual."

"How long has this been going on for?"

"Not that long," Shinji replied, "They usually come once a fortnight or so. Once a week could be considered often. But one just knocked me out, and I mean literally, while I was coming here. The one before came back when I was going to the bitch's office."

Chihiro cleared her throat, "I assume you mean Yubaba?"

"No shit."

Chihiro frowned. This wasn't really her area of expertise. People would usually run to Haku for these kind of problems. "Well, I'm not really sure what to do, but I think you should just wait a little longer before coming to any conclusions. Perhaps ask Zenibaa-san about it."

Shinji nodded. "I'm just afraid others will think I'm being paranoid."

"You know you can always come and talk to me if there's anything else bothering you," Chihiro said, " I know Haku tells you on a regular basis that you're an annoying little prick…"

"Gee. That makes me feel so loved," Shinji muttered sarcastically.

"But he really cares about you a lot." Chihiro ignored him, "So do I, and Zenibaa-san."

Shinji scuffed his foot on the floor. "I don't see anything worth caring for."

Before Chihiro could say something about Shinji's inferiority complex, Izumi came out of the bathroom, dressed in a set of Chihiro's older clothes, and carrying her own dirty ones in one arm.

"Where do I put these?"

Chihiro took Izumi's clothes from her and dumped them unceremoniously in a basket lying in the corner of the living room.

Shinji wrinkled his nose. "You still stink."

Izumi glared at him. "I just took a damned shower. I don't stink."

"You so do."

"What the hell is your problem?"

"The terrible smell."

"Both of you stop it." Chihiro snapped, "Izumi's a human. I stank as bad as she did when I first came here."

"Ha! So she does stink." Shinji said smugly.

"That's so not the point." Izumi snapped.

"It so is," Shinji said indignantly.

"Is not."

"Is too."

"This is just so mature," Chihiro sniped, "I'm serious. Stop it."

"Why are you here?" Izumi asked.

Shinji blinked. "Excuse me?"

"I was talking to my cousin," Izumi said shortly.

"Fine." Shinji muttered.

"What do you mean by 'why am I here'?" Chihiro asked.

"Why are you here? In this… place… Why didn't you come home?"

"It's quite a long story."

"I have time." Izumi said.

"How did you come here in the first place?" Chihiro challenged.

Izumi rummaged for something in her backpack, and pulled out Chihiro's diary. Chihiro stared at it in shock for a moment. "Where did you get that." Her voice was low, and dangerous. It wasn't a question. It was a statement.

"It was on one of the bookshelves in my house." Izumi replied.

Chihiro snatched it out of her hand, her eyes narrowing. "Tell me how much of it you read."

"Everything." Izumi snapped. "I didn't do anything wrong. Gods, we thought you were dead.

"Where's the painting."

Izumi pulled it out of her bag and chucked it at Chihiro. "Go home, Izumi," Chihiro said wearily. "I'm sorry, I miss my family. I really do, there are people I love here too. My _life_ is here. I know you're going to ask me to go back with you, but I won't."

"Then I'll stay here too." Izumi stuck her chin out stubbornly. "I'm not leaving without you."

"Izumi, I'm not joking. Leave."

"I still don't get why you're staying here. Is it because of that _Haku_?" She spat the name out venomously, "What was he doing during those six years you were still with us? Did he ditch you or something?"

"Don't talk about things you know nothing about," Chihiro hissed.

"What, so I'm right then?"

"No," she held up her hand with the ring on it, "You're wrong."

Izumi glared at the ring. "So where is he?"

"He's…" Chihiro trailed off.

"Well?" Izumi demanded.

"Izumi…" Chihiro began, before shaking her head.

"Answer my question."

"No."

"I'll just… go off to… somewhere now." Shinji muttered, oh-so-tactfully backing out of the conversation. He made a hasty retreat out of the cottage.

Chihiro and Izumi stood glaring at each other.

"I'm not leaving until you do." Izumi said firmly, sticking her chin out in a stubborn-bastard pose, and crossing her arms in front of her chest.

Chihiro glared at her. She decided to give in, and let Izumi stay for a few days. She would get tired of her little game eventually and go home. "Fine. You can put your things in my room for now."

Zenibaa watched Chihiro and Izumi enter the former's room from the kitchen. She was carrying a tray of tea in her arms. "This is going to be interesting," she mused.

* * *

"God of Knowledge," Nimokushi drawled, and bowed mockingly. "What a… pleasant surprise."

The God of Knowledge arched an eyebrow delicately. "I know you hate me for letting Kohaku throw you in prison, and robbing you off your status. You could just say "what the fuck are you doing in front of me now" like any normal person would. I don't mind."

"Certainly," Nimokushi said dryly, "May I ask why you've decided to grace me with your honorable presence?"

"There's really no need to be so polite," the God of Knowledge looked amused, and looked around the cave he and Nimokushi were in, "Nice place you have by the way."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome," the God of Knowledge said, "Anyway. I'm here to give you updates on the current situation, and tell you what I'd like you to do."

"And what would that be, pray tell?"

The God of Knowledge smirked, "There is a boy headed here right now. I believe you've met him before. Does the name "Shinji" ring a bell?"

Nimokushi frowned. "Well, it does sound familiar…"

"I thought so," the God of Knowledge said, "Anyway. I'd like you to capture him."

"And… what do I do after that?"

If possible, the God of Knowledge's smirk grew even wider. He whispered something into Nimokushi's ear.

"I think that should be simple enough for you," he said, reverting to speaking normally, "I've got places to go, things to see, lives to screw up. So I'll see you around some other time."

With that, he walked out of the cave, and vanished.

Nimokushi sat in the cave, thinking. After what seemed like hours, he exited the cave, and went off to follow the God of Knowledge's orders.

* * *

_**I was going to make Shinji and Izumi call each other nasty names. Then I decided against it. This chapter is slightly longer than the rest. I hope it'll make up for my recent lack of updates.**_


	7. Chapter 6

**_avolare_****_: Muse!Shinji says 'thank you'. _**

**_BattleAngelKurumi_****_: Thanks for your many reviews. They are very encouraging. :)_**

**_Author's Notes: Character-torture. Especially in the last scene. Please don't kill me. :hides:_**

**_

* * *

_**

Chapter 6

Shinji trudged along the mountain path, occasionally picking up herbs that looked somewhat useful and tossing it into the basket. Screw the bathhouse if any of them were poisonous.

He reflected vaguely that he had not had the chance to ask Zenibaa about his memory problem, and decided to drop by the cottage again after he had filled the basket.

"Chihiro and Izumi had better have stopped hissing and spitting at each other by then," he thought, "I hate it when girls fight."

He had just bent down to pick up another herb (actually, it looked more like a dead weed), when a man stepped in front of him. He blinked up at the man, wondering if he had seen him somewhere before. Naturally, he couldn't remember.

"Do I know you?" He asked.

The man shrugged, "You could say so."

Shinji resisted the urge to raise his eyebrows, "Well, if you want to chat, some other time would be more appropriate. I'm kind of busy now." Truth to speak, that man gave him the creeps for some reason or another. "So, see you around."

Shinji was about to walk past the man, but the latter firmly stepped into Shinji's path, effectively blocking his way.

"I really am busy," Shinji said calmly.

Nimokushi smirked, an 'I'm-going-to-hurt-you-now' kind of smirk. Shinji shuddered.

The ex-lord of the spirit world fired a blast of magic at Shinji, knocking the teenager off his feet. Shinji crashed into a rather large boulder behind him, the back of his head hitting the boulder, hard. Shinji gingerly stood up from where he had fallen, swaying slightly, unsteady on his feet.

"You're stronger than I expected," Nimokushi said, "that blast would have knocked a normal person unconscious."

Not thinking, Shinji drew out the dagger than he carried with him wherever he went, and slashed at Nimokushi blindly. He couldn't really see straight; that knock on the head must have given him a concussion.

Nimokushi easily dodged this move of Shinji's, and grabbed Shinji by the wrist. He twisted it, and Shinji dropped the dagger, yelling out in pain. Damn it. He knew that the fact that he hadn't been paying attention in Haku's self-defense lessons were going to come back and bite him in the ass one day.

Nimokushi caught the dagger in his free hand, and hit Shinji on the back of the head with the hilt.

Shinji stopped squirming, and went limp in Nimokushi's grasp. Nimokushi hoisted Shinji over his shoulder, and returned to the cave.

* * *

Izumi lay on the bed in Chihiro's room, and sulked. She hadn't meant to say anything about Haku. That subject had obviously touched a nerve with Chihiro. She had just been angry with her cousin for disappearing like that, and desperate for her to return home. 

There was a knock on the door, and Zenibaa entered the room with a tray of tea. She offered Izumi a warm smile.

"We weren't exactly properly introduced," Zenibaa said, while offering Izumi a cup of tea, "Izumi isn't it?"

Izumi nodded, and sipped the tea. She was surprised to find that it was good, the best tea that she had had so far, to be precise. "Zenibaa-san?" she guessed.

"Ah, you've heard of me?" Zenibaa magicked up a chair near the bed, and sat down, while Izumi tried not to gape.

"Yeah," she managed, "Chihiro mentioned you in her diary."

"Oh?" Zenibaa seemed genuinely curious. "And what did she write about me?"

"Hm," Izumi tried to recall what she had read, "She said that you were kind, and very different from your sister, even though you two looked exactly like each other."

"Well that's nice to know," Zenibaa laughed.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking their tea. "You came here to look for Chihiro?"

"Yeah," Izumi nodded. She stared down into her half-finished tea. "She made a decision to stay here, without even letting us know where she was. She doesn't know how horrible the last four years has been for us – her family; her friends too. We spent every single day wondering if she were alive. It kind of makes us wonder how much she really cares about us." She finished rather bitterly.

"Child, believe me, it wasn't an easy decision," Zenibaa shook her head. Izumi looked skeptical.

Zenibaa sighed. "For the first half a year or so, she woke up at night, crying. From what I heard, she missed everyone in your world too much. She nearly went back."

"Then why?" Izumi's voice cracked, "What kept her here?"

"Haku," Zenibaa smiled. Izumi made an exasperated noise, before Zenibaa continued. "You shouldn't be so quick to judge him. He was one of the best things that happened to Chihiro's life. He's her husband. All those nights, he never showed how tired he was when Chihiro woke up sobbing against his shoulder. He never got angry when Chihiro confessed to him her thoughts of leaving, no matter how much it pained him. There were a few times he even doubted Chihiro was happy, and considered sending her back, even though she was the one he loved the most. He offered a shoulder to cry on, holding her, and whispering comforting words into her ear during those long nights. He did whatever he could to help her."

"How do you know so much?" Izumi whispered.

"Haku sees me as a confidant," Zenibaa smiled fondly. "He couldn't possibly have talked to Chihiro about how miserable he felt every time he saw her cry like that. Besides, this is my cottage. I know what goes on around here, even though Chihiro and Haku are unaware of it."

"Then why didn't her send her back?" Izumi asked, "If he was miserable watching Chihiro cry, why did he let her stay?"

"He doubted Chihiro's happiness, but he never doubted her love for him," Zenibaa said. "He held on to the possibility that Chihiro would get better, because he loved her too much to let go."

Izumi remained silent, processing this information.

"What about you then?" Zenibaa asked, "Surely you wouldn't have come if you thought Chihiro were dead."

Izumi opened her mouth, then frowned. She gave the most honest answer possible. "I don't know," she said, "at her funeral… I just had this feeling… That she was still alive… Somewhere."

Zenibaa nodded. "Well, it was good that you had that feeling then, you got to see your cousin again."

"Yeah, but she won't come back." Izumi muttered, rather angrily.

"But now you know she's alive," Zenibaa said, "Surely that's worth something? She's happy here, Izumi. I don't think you would want to destroy that happiness by forcing her to leave."

Izumi fixed her gaze on the floor, wrapped up in her thoughts.

"Well, I'd best be going," Zenibaa got up from her chair, "Chihiro's out of the shower. You can go talk to her if you want now."

* * *

"Ugh." More or less summed up how Shinji felt when he came to in Nimokushi's cave. He felt like a herd of dinosaurs had stampeded on him, a bus had run over him, and the said bus had backed up over him again just for good measure. 

He remembered his run-in with Nimokushi, and tried to sit up. His hands and feet were bound. He winced as pain lanced through his wrist. It had sprained when Nimokushi had twisted it. He looked outside, to find it was already dark.

Well, fuck.

Fuck fuck fuckity fuck.

"Comfortable?" Nimokushi asked from where he was using his magic to levitate pieces of wood into the fire. The fire was purple. Shinji barely resisted the urge to make a snide comment on how gay he thought that was. Purple was just not on his list of favorite colors. He was in deep enough shit without making it worse for himself. Instead, he settled for glaring a 'fuck-off-and-leave-me-the-hell-alone' glare at Nimokushi.

Nimokushi got up from where he was seated, and grabbed Shinji's chin, forcing the teenager to look him straight in the eye. He smirked. "You haven't changed much."

"Nice to know," Shinji muttered. "Now will untie me and send me on my merry way?"

"No."

"Please?"

"No."

"Damn." Shinji said without much enthusiasm. He hadn't expected it to work anyway, whatever 'it' was.

"You've lost your memory, I see." Nimokushi stated as-a-matter-of-factly.

"Yep." Shinji replied, altogether too cheerfully. "My life just Sucks That Much."

Nimokushi let go of Shinji, and sent another piece of wood flying into the fire with a hand gesture. "Would you like it back?"

Shinji's eyes narrowed. "You can give me back my memories?"

"Well, it depends…" Nimokushi left his sentence hanging.

Shinji fidgeted. "Depends on?"

Nimokushi smiled a smile that sent unpleasant shivers up Shinji's spine.

Shinji raised an eyebrow. "Well, name your price."

"Work for me," Nimokushi said, "Go back to your friends, put on your cutesy-cutesy act, get information out of then, report back to me."

"In other words, act as your spy?" Shinji asked, scowling.

"Yes."

"Hm," Shinji appeared to consider, "I'll be betraying my friends, screwing up further my already screwed up life, helping the guy who's supposedly trying to destroy the spirit world, all for the sake of getting my memories. Oh, and I forgot to mention how Fucked Up I will be if I am caught. I know the old bitch is fucking powerful, no matter how much it pains me to admit it. Zenibaa-san too. That woman packs one hell of a punch."

"Put it bluntly, yes." Nimokushi drawled. "I had the decency to be vague. You came to these conclusions yourself."

Shinji hissed, much like a cat, and spit in Nimokushi's face. "I won't stoop to your level."

"That," Nimokushi calmly wiped the spit off his face, his eyes glinting in anger, "was a big mistake on your part."

Before Shinji could reply, Nimokushi's foot solidly connected with Shinji's ribs. Shinji gasped, and curled up into a ball. The pain was excruciating. Nimokushi grabbed Shinji by the collar, and flung him against one of the walls in the cave. Shinji fell heavily onto the floor, blood dripping from the side of his mouth. He glared defiantly at Nimokushi. The anger in his eyes quickly turned to something akin to fear as Nimokushi approached, holding Shinji's dagger in his hand. Shit. He hadn't realized Nimokushi had it.

Nimokushi twirled the dagger between his fingers, a feat that only people skilled in weaponry, particularly knives, could accomplish. "Hm, I remember this," he said, seemingly thoughtful, "You had it the last time I met you too."

"Fuck you." Shinji hissed again. Nimokushi came closer, and kicked Shinji once more. He held the dagger to Shinji's throat. Shinji froze.

"Don't try to be smart with me boy," Nimokushi said calmly, pressing the blade against Shinji's throat slightly, enough to draw blood, but not enough to kill. "Remember, you are the one at a disadvantage here." He shifted the dagger, down to Shinji's right arm.

"Perhaps I should give you a scar identical to the one you gave me," Nimokushi sliced the fabric of Shinji's sleeve open. Shinji's eyes darted to Nimokushi's right arm, and found that, indeed, there was a scar that ran across the whole upper part of his arm. Shinji whimpered, trying to inch away from the dagger. "But… I think that could be saved for a later occasion." Nimokushi apparently changed his mind.

"You will agree to this," Nimokushi said firmly.

"Bite me." Shinji snapped.

"The offer I made is not negotiable." Nimokushi said, placing the dagger on the ground next to him.

"You said 'it depends'." Shinji argued.

"I lied." Nimokushi placed a hand on Shinji's forehead.

His memories came back in floods.

Shinji screamed, and struggled, tugging against the ropes that bound him, despite the pain that his sprained wrist was causing him. The ropes cut into his skin, drawing blood. The pain was nothing compared to the way his memories were being forced into his mind. Everything. Ever since he could remember. His mother and siblings. Where was his father? A sea of red. The glint of a knife.

And everything went black.

* * *

_**Dramatic enough of a cliffhanger? I'm trying my best to make time to write this. Reviews? Please:Puppy eyes:**_


	8. Chapter 7

**_BattleAngelKurumi_****_: Well, I'm sure Shinji wants to tie Nimokushi to a chair and beat the shit out of him as well, but could you two wait till after I finish the story? I need an evil villain for the plot. _**

**_A/N: I just realized I haven't exactly given readers an idea on how Shinji looks like. So I'll fit a description into this chapter. Again, sorry for my long disappearance. I just haven't had the motivation to write lately. Updated three chapters this time though. Please review._**

_**Oh and, uh. Please don't kill me for the part about Haku's hair. It was totally random and redundant.**_

Chapter 7

Izumi glanced up at Chihiro as the older woman walked into the room without looking at her. She shifted nervously on her seat.

"I'm sorry." She blurted out. That got Chihiro to turn around and face her. Chihiro raised an eyebrow.

"I'm sorry for reading your diary," Izumi went on, not wanting to lose any steam. She would be damned if she'd gotten this far and messed up. "I'm sorry for coming here. I'm sorry for jumping to conclusions. I'm sorry for taking the poster off your wall. I'm sorry for not being understanding. I'm sorry for being an asshole. I'm sorry for reading your diary. Yes, I know I said that twice. I'm sorry I came to bother you. And I'm sorry I'm being a total pain in the ass by whining and bitching the way I am. I'm so sorry that I'll just shut up now."

She finally stopped and looked up at Chihiro again. Chihiro was staring at her blankly.

"I'll just… Go now…" Izumi said meekly and stood up, grabbing her backpack, trying to hold back tears.

Chihiro walked over to her and drew her into her hug. "I'm not angry at you, 'Zumi-chan."

"You're not?" Izumi blurted out.

"No, I'm not." Chihiro said firmly. "I admit that I was a little pissed when I heard you read my diary, but you're not being a pain in the ass. And I don't see how apologizing can be considered whining and bitching."

When Izumi didn't say anything, she continued. "It's just… Haku's my husband. And I love him." Izumi looked up at her, eyes filled with hurt, and she continued hurriedly, "I love you too. I love my family, friends, Kojin, Miyu. But I'm happy here Izumi, please don't try to take that away."

Izumi nodded, and sniffled. "I don't know what it's like to be in love with someone, but I think I understand." She managed a weak smile. "So… I guess you still want me to leave huh…"

Chihiro hesitated. On one hand, she knew it was dangerous, what with Nimokushi running around doing god-knew-what. On the other hand, she really wanted to spend time with her cousin. Izumi was the first person from the other world she had seen since her disappearance. In the end, the urge to be with her cousin won out, and she pushed the little voice in her head that said it was _stupid _and_ dangerous_ to let Izumi stay here to the back of her mind.

"I suppose it'll be alright if it's only for a while," Chihiro said.

Izumi beamed up at her cousin, before Chihiro said firmly, "A week. No more."

Izumi nodded happily, too excited about spending time with her cousin to care about how long she would be staying.

They sat down in the living room, drinking tea the Zenibaa had brought them. They chatted amiably for what seemed like hours, Chihiro catching up with things that had happened in the Human World, and Izumi staring wide-eyed at Chihiro when Chihiro told her about adventures she had had in the Spirit World.

"So," Chihiro grinned smugly, "Any cute boys in school?"

Izumi blushed, and muttered, "No."

"Come on," Chihiro said, exasperated, "Surely someone's asked you out."

Izumi turned even redder.

"Who?" Chihiro asked curiously.

Izumi shook her head.

"'Zumi-_chan_… Come on… I'm curious."

"Well there was this one guy…" Izumi said shyly. Chihiro nodded, a signal for her to continue. "We went for a movie together. He was really nice."

Seeing that Izumi wasn't about to continue, Chihiro tried prompting her. "And…?"

Izumi mumbled something so softly that Chihiro only barely heard her.

"You kissed?" Chihiro grinned. "Was it a kiss or a kiss?"

"How am I supposed to know?" Izumi nearly yelled, embarrassed.

"Youngsters these days… Kissing on a first date!" Chihiro shook her head in mock disbelief, and started laughing.

"Well he started it!" Izumi said indignantly. Seeing that Chihiro was still laughing at her, she tried a different tactic. "Don't make me ask what the hell you and Haku do together."

This shut Chihiro up and she stopped laughing, her face flushing slightly. "So, are you two officially a couple?" Chihiro asked, genuinely curious.

Izumi shrugged, regaining some of her dignity, and glad that she found something she could pester Chihiro about in the future. "I haven't seen him since I went out with him."

"Ah," Chihiro said, and winked at Izumi. "Go for it girl."

Izumi, if possible, turned even redder.

"Well, if he doesn't contact you again, there's always Shinji." Chihiro said as-a-matter-of-factly. "You two would look cute together."

Izumi gaped. "Me? And _Shinji_? Are you out of your mind! Did you see the way we were sniping at each other back there?"

"It's a possibility. And don't worry. Shinji's not an easy person to get along with when you first meet him," Chihiro said calmly, "He kind of looks like a _bishounen_ that has just stepped out of a shoujo manga. He's pretty handsome don't you think?"

Izumi had to admit, Chihiro was right. Shinji did have very fine features. His eyes were a beautiful shade of green. He was also _extremely_ good-looking, even though his long, blonde hair that nearly reached his knees made him look slightly effeminate. She settled for not answering Chihiro's question altogether. "You shouldn't be ogling other guys when you're married, Chihiro-neesan. Much less younger guys. How old is he anyway?"

Chihiro blinked. "I don't ogle. I was just stating a fact. Besides, I don't think Haku minds. I think he likes Shinji's hair. I caught him staring at it a couple of times. Don't tell anyone I said that. Maybe I'll get Haku to grow his hair out once he comes back." _If he comes back,_ a voice in Chihiro's head said. She shook that thought off and steered off the subject of Haku. "I'm not sure about Shinji's age. He never told us. I think he can't remember, with his amnesia and all."

"Ah," Izumi said. She hurriedly took the opportunity to change the topic. "Oh look, it's night already."

Chihiro looked out of the window, and found that it was already dark. "Yeah. I guess we'd better get to sleep." She wondered vaguely how Haku was doing now.

She and Izumi prepared for bed, before they settled on Chihiro and Haku's bed. They had often slept on the same bed during sleepovers before Chihiro disappeared, and it didn't feel unusual to them at all.

"Oyasumi." Izumi muttered sleepily. Chihiro smiled, and turned off the lights.

* * *

Shinji woke up and stifled a groan. His head Fucking Hurt. Damn Nimokushi. Damn him and his magical powers. Damn him for forcing his memories back into his head. Just… Damn him. 

Right. He would wallow in his misery later. How to get free. He needed to get out of the cave and away from his psychopath. He glanced over at Nimokushi, who was lying near the entrance of the cave, apparently asleep. Shinji squirmed, wincing as pain lanced up his arm through his wrists. Freaking rope-burn. He continued squirming, and managed to wriggle out of the ropes. _Ha. Asshole didn't tie those tightly enough._ He then went on to untying the ropes around his legs. This was no easy feat, as his hands were trembling, and his fingers kept fumbling clumsily over the rope. Eventually, however, he managed to get the ropes loose enough for him to pull them off.

He got up unsteadily onto his feet, and swayed a little, before walking towards the entrance of the cave, trying to ignore the ache in his ribs, and the ache in, well, practically every other part of his body. Nimokushi had left rather deep slashes on his arms and legs as well. Those were bleeding freely. God alone knew why he would want to slash open an unconscious person, but that bastard had to have done if after Shinji had blacked out, since Shinji remembered nothing about having been cut with anything. It was raining outside. That would make it even more difficult to get to Zenibaa's cottage. Even if it wasn't raining, he didn't know if he had enough strength to make it there without collapsing and bleeding to death in the middle of the road.

Damn his luck.

He was sorely tempted to give Nimokushi a good, hard kick in some place that would _really_ hurt. But he knew he would wake Nimokushi up, and barely refrained from doing so. Instead, he grabbed his dagger, which was lying beside Nimokushi, and pocketed it.

"That's mine," he hissed, before staggering out of the cave. "Fucking bastard."

He didn't see Nimokushi's smirk.

* * *

Izumi yawned, as she dragged herself to the kitchen to get a glass of water. She swore under her breath as she realized she didn't know where the cups were kept. Neither did she know where the hell she could get water from. She would be damned if she resorted to drinking rainwater. Muttering obscenities under her breath, she made her way across the living room, planning to go back to sleep. Waking up at two in the morning for a glass of water was not fun in the least. 

The door was pounding. Wait. Doors couldn't pound. Or at least, the couldn't pound in the Human world. Maybe someone was pounding at the door. At two in the morning. Yawning again, Izumi went to the door and yanked it open, planning to take her irritation out on whoever was standing there.

"It's about time," Shinji muttered, before fainting. He would have cracked his head open on the floor had Izumi not caught him. Unable to support Shinji's weight while standing up, Izumi collapsed on the floor with Shinji on her lap. This woke her up immediately.

"What the hell are you doing!" She snapped, before realizing that Shinji's wrists were bleeding badly, with one of them hanging at a funny angle, and that he had numerous painful-looking bruises on his face, as well as deep cuts on his arms and legs. His long hair was also matted with grim, dirt and blood.

"Shit!" Izumi lay Shinji down on the floor, not having the strength to drag him all the way to the couch. "Shitshitshitshitshit," she chanted under her breath.

"Chihiro! Zenibaa-san!" She shrieked. She hoped they would hear her over the rain, and decided to play-safe. She yelled for them again, her voice almost hysterical. What the hell was she supposed to do now? She gave Shinji a rough shake. "Damnit Shinji if this is a joke it's not funny."

"Fuck," she swore more vehemently when she realized Shinji had stopped breathing.

_I am here with the door open and the rain coming in, soaking wet, with an unconscious person in my hands, who is possibly dead. Great. Just fucking peachy. _Izumi thought. She tried to calm herself down, and attempted to remember how to do CPR. She had learnt it during health class in school; she just didn't think she would actually need it. She couldn't remember if each breath should be three or four seconds long, but whatever she did ought to get Shinji's heart beating again.

In the end, she decided to go with four. She pinched the bridge of Shinji's nose, and pressed her lips firmly against his.


	9. Chapter 8

**_sakurablossomskxk_****_: Thanks for the wonderful review. Eh. The prequel is by freezingsaphire. The title is Spirited Away: Saving the Spirit World._**

Chapter 8

Shinji made a shuddering gasp and started breathing again. He pried open his eyes to see Chihiro, no, Izumi, with her hair dripping wet, looking down at him. What happened?

Hurried footsteps sounded on the floor and he vaguely heard Chihiro's, Izumi's and Zenibaa's voices. Everything seemed to be muffled, and the world around him seemed to be spinning. He couldn't be dead. Unless Izumi, Chihiro and Zenibaa were dead. Did dead people feel so much pain?

"Shinji? Shinji?" Someone calling his name. Chihiro. "Shinji, can you hear me?"

He tried to answer, but nothing came out of his throat when he opened his mouth. He settled for nodding weakly. He felt warmth spreading through him, warmth that felt like magic.

"You're going to be alright."

Zenibaa's voice. Zenibaa's magic.

He passed out.

* * *

Izumi hovered nervously near Shinji's bed. Zenibaa had taken care of most of the injuries Shinji had sustained, and his life wasn't in any danger. Still, Zenibaa's magic was limited, and Shinji still had to wait for some of his wounds to heal.

The bleeding from the cuts on his arms and legs had stopped, and were bandaged up, but they hadn't healed fully yet. Zenibaa had said something about scars. The old sorceress had also fixed the Shinji's three broken ribs, but the two that were cracked were left to heal naturally. Shinji's wrists were also bandaged; the sprain on his right wrist had been partially healed by Zenibaa, but he still couldn't move it around much. His neck had also been carefully bandaged. Zenibaa had said that if the cut there was just a hair's breath deeper, it would have cut Shinji's jugular and killed him instantly. He was lucky he didn't have any concussions.

Shinji had slept like the dead for the past two days, not stirring even when people entered and exited the room. The three women had taken turns to watch Shinji; they didn't want him waking up alone and panicking. Izumi had reluctantly agreed to help.

Izumi watched Shinji's sleeping face and thought back to the events of the night two days ago, and fought back a blush. Even though it was to save Shinji's life, in a way, Izumi had kissed him. _He looks so peaceful_, she thought. _Like a sleeping angel_. Of course, the bandages that covered him from head to toe kind of spoiled the effect.

Shinji's long hair had been untied and Chihiro had washed the blood and dirt out of it. It was now unbelievably silky, and looked very tempting indeed. Unable to resist, Izumi picked up a few strands and started twirling them around one of her fingers. She could see why Chihiro thought Haku was jealous of Shinji's hair. Hell, _she_ was jealous of Shinji's hair. Izumi knew of a few girls who would kill for hair that looked and felt like Shinji's.

She jumped a little when Shinji stirred, moaning softly. He was awake! She began to sit up to leave the room, but Shinji weakly grabbed hold of the hem of her shirt.

"Don't go," he rasped. "Please, don't leave me alone."

She sat back down, and put her hands on Shinji's. "I'm just going to get Zenibaa and 'Hiro-neesan," She said soothingly. "Give me a minute. Count to sixty. I'll be back before then. Anything I can give you before that?"

He nodded, "Water." His voice sounded terrible, and his throat felt really dry. Izumi got a glass of water from Shinji's bedside.

"Can you sit up?" she asked.

Shinji tried, and grimaced as the pain in his ribs came back in full-force.

"Never mind, I'm sorry I asked," Izumi said hastily, seeing the look on Shinji's face. She helped to get Shinji into a sitting position and made sure he was comfortable. Not sure if he had the strength to hold the glass of water by himself, she held the glass to his lips for him, and put the glass down after Shinji had finished drinking it.

Shinji felt like an invalid. He nearly protested when Izumi held up the glass for him, but he felt terrible enough without exerting any of his strength. Reluctantly, he let her hold the glass for him.

"I'll be right back," she said, "you can start counting now."

She bustled out of the room to find Chihiro and Zenibaa, while Shinji counted almost silently under his breath.

"One, two, three…"

By the time he had reached fifty-six, Izumi was back, with Chihiro and Zenibaa behind her.

"I need to check his wounds," Zenibaa said, "there shouldn't be more than one person with him at a time." She started shooing Izumi and Chihiro out of the room. "You can come and see him after I'm done."

Chihiro looked like she was about to argue, but Izumi tugged her out of the room before she could say anything.

* * *

Izumi paced outside Shinji's room. Was he going to be alright? Zenibaa said his life was out of danger. But what if she was wrong? What if something horrible happened? What if…

"Izumi," Chihiro said, "stop pacing. You're giving me a headache."

Izumi stopped, and sat down on the sofa next to Chihiro, fiddling with the hem of her shirt nervously. Chihiro raised an eyebrow at this.

"He's going to be fine, Izumi," she said, somewhat amused.

"Sorry," Izumi mumbled, and took a sip of the glass of water Zenibaa had left for her on the table. "I can't help but worry."

Chihiro, in an attempt to lighten the mood, and just for the hell of it, grinned. "I think you like him."

Izumi, who had taken another mouthful of water, took an extra-large swallow and choked. Chihiro patted her on the back, while Izumi hacked and coughed.

"Well," Izumi said when she recovered, red-faced, "I did save his life."

Chihiro looked amused at Izumi's flustered state. She hadn't expected such a strong reaction, and she hadn't actually _seriously _considered Izumi and Shinji being together. I was more of something that she could bring up to get on her younger cousin's nerves. She grinned. My, my, her little cousin did have a crush on Shinji after all. She couldn't resist adding, "I don't think you like him. I think you like him."

"I don't. Not in the way you're implying okay?" Izumi turned even redder, and lifted the glass to her mouth again.

"I'm sure," Chihiro said dryly. Teasing her cousin was so much fun. She asked lightly and innocently, "How was the kiss?"

This time, Izumi sprayed the water all over the table. She wiped her mouth and glared at her cousin. "It was not a kiss!" she yelled, "It was CPR! He wasn't breathing for god's sake!"

"Deny it all you want," Chihiro had an almost evil grin on her face, if possible, looking even more amused, "A kiss is a kiss. I'm sure Shinji's heard what you just shouted, he's only in the next room."

Izumi sputtered indignantly. Chihiro continued mercilessly, "I'm sure he'll ask what that was about. And I'm sure he'll want to know how you saved him. And I'm even more sure I'll have fun telling him _exactly _how you did it."

Izumi opened her mouth to reply, but couldn't think of anything to say. Just at this moment, Zenibaa stepped out of Shinji's room.

"He's doing fine. He just has to wait for his injuries to heal. He's still awake. You can go in and see him now Chihiro," Zenibaa said. She looked at the water on the table. "What happened here?"

"Oh, 'Zumi-chan just got a little flustered. It's nothing to worry about," Chihiro smiled, before glancing at Izumi, "I'll pay dear Shin-chan a visit now."

Izumi slapped her hand to her forehead and groaned inwardly. She was going to kill Chihiro one day.

"Wait, before you go in, there's something you should know," Zenibaa said. Her expression had turned grave. "The marks on his arms and legs, they aren't ordinary marks."

Chihiro looked at her quizzically. Zenibaa continued, "They're curse marks; powerful ones. I'm not sure how exactly the curse works, what it's for, and how he got them, but from what I've seen, Shinji cannot know about this. The curse is designed to kill him if he finds out."

She waited a few seconds for this piece of information to sink in. Chihiro and Izumi had identically stunned looks on their faces. "So until we find a cure, do not mention this to him. Deaths by curses are often grotesque, and painful. Try not to ask how he got hurt. I think that can wait till after his injuries are fully healed."

Chihiro nodded, before entering the room. _I have to act normal. I can't let Shinji know how afraid I am for him. He's sharp; he'll know something's wrong if I do anything out of the ordinary._

Shinji smiled at her when she walked in, and she grinned back.

"How are you feeling?" She asked, pulling up a chair and sitting next to him.

"Like shit," Shinji remarked. "How do I look? Do I dare ask you for a mirror?"

Chihiro shrugged, and went to her room to fetch a mirror. She handed it to Shinji, and he let out a low whistle as he looked at his reflection.

"Other than the bruises and bandages, I still look pretty good," he said. Chihiro rolled her eyes. Shinji's vanity was simply amazing, and apparently, it had stayed that way even after his near-death experience.

"Yes, Shinji, you're just as pretty as ever," Chihiro said, just to pacify him. Shinji made an indignant sound at the word 'pretty' being applied to him, when Chihiro grinned to show she was kidding. They chatted for awhile, Chihiro asking him how he felt and making him promise that he would inform any one of the girls immediately if he felt any pain. She also told him he was free to ask for anything.

Shinji nodded at whatever he said, occasionally mumbling a "yes" here or there."Women," he thought, "always fussing. Although I have to admit being waited on like this should be kind of fun."

"Ah yes," Chihiro said, smiling overly-sweetly. "You _do _know that 'Zumi-chan saved your life right?"

"Er, yeah," Shinji looked uncomfortable, and fidgeted. He winced, and reminded himself that unnecessary movement should be avoided at all costs. "Erm. I heard her yelling outside. What was that about a kiss? Was is like, Sleeping Beauty?" Chihiro had told him of some fairy-tales that she had heard in her childhood when she had been bored, and was surprised to find that he actually remembered some of them. "Did I really stop breathing?"

Chihiro bit her lip to keep herself from laughing when she heard the words 'Sleeping Beauty'. The idea of Izumi as a prince and Shinji as a princess was hilarious. "Not exactly Sleeping Beauty," she managed, when she calmed herself down, "You were, well. Dying. Yes, you did stop breathing for a while. You were lucky Izumi knew CPR."

"Ah," Shinji said, frowning and looking like he didn't really understand. "What's CPR?"

Chihiro couldn't contain her laughter anymore, and stifled her giggles under a hand. Shinji looked at her quizzically, and said, "I still don't see how saving someone's life can be related to kissing."

Just as he said that, Shinji's stomach grumbled, he was ravenous. It was no wonder, really, after having been asleep for two days straight.

"Oh! Food! How could I forget? I'll get Izumi to bring some for you, you can thank her and get her to explain CPR to you," Chihiro stood up, and grinned wickedly, "Maybe she'll even give you a little demonstration. You'll be okay by yourself for a few moments?"

Shinji nodded. With that, she left the room with an extremely confused Shinji staring at her retreating back and wondering what the hell was going on. As soon as she left the room, she began laughing her ass off.


	10. Chapter 9

**_Freezingsaphire, has started on his own sequel to the original fic that he wrote. Go read it. The opening is wonderful. Please keep in mind that the things that happen in his fic are not related to the events in this fic. Also, if you haven't read the prequel to this fic, Spirited Away: Saving the Spirit World, please go and read it. It will make everything in the story much clearer._**

Chapter 9

Izumi stared at Chihiro, who was currently having uncontrollable fits of laughter. She tried to muster up a glare at her cousin. "What. Did. You. Tell. Him."

"Nothing," Chihiro said, and burst into giggles again, "nothing at all."

Izumi scowled. She did not like the way Chihiro was laughing. It meant something bad, really bad.

"Come on," Chihiro said when she finally stopped giggling, "We need to go make some food, Shinji's hungry."

"Uh," Izumi managed, before Chihiro towed her into the kitchen. Chihiro began taking cooking utensils out of the cupboards, while Izumi looked around the kitchen.

"Where's Zenibaa-san?" Izumi asked. She had assumed that the sorceress had been in the kitchen, since she wasn't in the living room or Shinji's room.

"Oh, she's probably out on an errand," Chihiro said absently, and muttered to herself, "I wonder if Shinji's up to taking solid food…"

"Uh, Chihiro?" Izumi said tentatively, "I, uh, can't cook."

"It's okay," Chihiro replied, "I couldn't cook at your age either. I only learnt how to after I married Haku. Zenibaa-san taught me. Haku's downright dangerous in the kitchen, he almost set the cottage on fire the last time he tried to make something, and Zenibaa's always out of the house, so it's kind of up to me to do the cooking."

Izumi blinked. "How did he almost set the cottage on fire?"

"He got tired of waiting for the food to cook, and tried to use his magic to make the fire bigger. Stupid of him, he could have just turned up the stove," Chihiro shook her head and went on, "Anyway. Zenibaa-san's stove is magical too, and their magics didn't mix very well. So, kaboom! Zenibaa-san had to get a new stove. We had to renovate the kitchen too. Haku put out the fire before it spread to the rest of the cottage; thank God his magic is useful for something in the house."

Izumi blinked again. "Uhm, right."

"Come here, I'll teach you how to make porridge, it's simple enough." Chihiro handed Izumi a pot and told her to put it on the stove. Izumi gingerly obeyed.

* * *

Izumi tried to balance the tray of food on one hand and push open the door to Shinji's room with the other. The cooking session had gone relatively smoothly, even though Izumi singed a bit of Chihiro's apron accidentally. Besides that, Izumi thought she had done pretty well for a first attempt at cooking.

Chihiro had persuaded her to bring the food into Shinji's room with a grin that scared Izumi. Not having any proper arguments to make, Izumi reluctantly agreed.

"Hey," Izumi said as she walked into the room, "I brought food."

Shinji had been staring at the mountains outside the window before she came in, apparently deep in thought. He started slightly as he heard her voice.

"Thanks," he said, watching her as she set the tray down on a table next to his bed. "I mean, not just for the food, for saving me."

"No problem," Izumi tried to suppress a blush as she replied. She frowned, and wondered if Shinji was up to holding the spoon for the porridge himself. "Uhm, are you up to eating by yourself?"

Shinji blinked, and shrugged. He moved his arm to reach the bowl of porridge, and winced. Damn, being injured sucked. "I don't think so."

Izumi dished out a spoonful of porridge and held it to Shinji's mouth, while he stared at her incredulously. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing," Shinji mumbled, seeing no alternative to being fed, as he definitely didn't want his arm to hurt anymore. "God, I feel pathetic," he thought, "First she saves my useless life, and now's she's feeding me. And I barely even know her!"

They sat in silence for a while, Shinji too busy eating. The porridge actually tasted rather nice. When he finished the bowl, Izumi stood, preparing to leave with the dishes. Shinji felt an urge to say something, to stop her from leaving. Chihiro was nice and all, but she would probably ask many uncomfortable questions and fuss over him if she came in again.

"Hey," Shinji said. Izumi looked at him. "Uhm, you don't have to go."

When he was met with Izumi's blank stare, he hastily continued, "I mean, we hardly got along nicely when we first met, and I feel kinda bad, since you saved my life and all. Maybe we could just chat or something. It's boring, being an invalid."

"Sure," Izumi said, sitting back down on the chair next to Shinji's bed.

Shinji racked his brain for a conversation topic, and finally came up with something he was confused over, he asked, "What's CPR?"

Izumi turned the colour of a tomato, "Chihiro didn't tell you?"

"No," he replied, "She told me to ask you."

"Uh," Izumi shifted in her seat uncomfortably, "it's, uh."

"Maybe it'll be easier if you show me?" Shinji asked, trying to make it easier for Izumi. He didn't know he had done the exact opposite of what he intended.

"Uh," Izumi repeated, "Maybe when you recover?" _Maybe he'll forget about it and I won't have to embarrass the hell out of myself._ Shinji was asking for a kiss! Even though he didn't really know it.

Shinji brightened at this prospect. "Okay," he said, too cheerfully for Izumi's peace of mind. "But what's it like? I mean. Chihiro said something about artificial respiration. How do you help someone breathe?"

Izumi resisted the urge to rub her temples in frustration. How was she to explain to Shinji that they'd… well, kissed? Damn Chihiro. It would have been SO much easier if she had explained it. She had a feeling that Chihiro had left it to her to tell Shinji about it because it would be even more embarrassing. And she was sure that if Chihiro ever heard her telling Shinji about CPR, her older cousin would be laughing her sorry butt off. But if she told Shinji while he was out and about, the chances of Chihiro being with him were higher. At least, now, Chihiro wouldn't be there to witness her mortification.

"It involves, er," Izumi began uncertainly, "erm…"

"Yes?" Shinji prompted. He just didn't understand why Izumi was finding it so hard to tell him.

"Mouthtomouth," she said in a breath, and fixed her gaze on the floor, still blushing furiously.

Shinji, not having caught that and still not really understanding, blinked rather stupidly, and gave the most unintelligent reply possible, "Huh?"

"Mouth. To. Mouth," Izumi said, slowly and deliberately, still refusing to look at Shinji.

It took a few minutes for this to sink in for Shinji. "Oh," he finally managed, "No wonder Chihiro was so giggly about it."

"I'm going to kill her," Izumi muttered, still blushing madly.

Shinji laughed, amused with Izumi's response, then stopped because it hurt his ribs to laugh. He made a mental note not to do it again, his list of things-not-to-do was getting terribly long. He said, "It must have been horrible, kissing an unconscious person."

Seeing that Shinji was didn't feel uncomfortable with the subject of kissing, Izumi relaxed slightly.

"So, any ideas? Of how to kill your cousin I mean," Shinji joked.

"Well," Izumi began, "I was thinking on needling her on issues regarding her sex life with Haku. I haven't done any needling so far."

A wicked grin spread across Shinji's face. "I know all about their sex life."

"Really," Izumi arched an eyebrow, "Do tell."

Shinji grinned even wider, and began spilling all the cough juicy (and rather explicit) cough _(sorry, author couldn't resist) _details of the… interesting… situations he'd caught Chihiro and Haku in.

"Wait, wait," Izumi cut in, "Information overload. I didn't want THAT much detail."

Shinji looked unremorseful, "Sorry."

"How do you know so much anyway?" Izumi asked, curious.

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Shinji said loftily. Izumi poked him lightly in the ribs, and he relented. "Well, actually it's because I keep interrupting them while they're in the middle of something."

"Right," Izumi said dryly. "So basically your thoughts run along this line. ' Wow! Chihiro and Haku are _doing it_ now. I just HAVE to walk in and see exactly WHAT they are doing.' And you have some sort of sixth sense that tells you exactly when they're involved in something. Am I right?"

"It's not like that!" Shinji said, faking indignation, "The first time was an accident!"

"I'm sure," Izumi said sarcastically.

"Nooo! I'm serious! I knocked, and they didn't answer. I thought something was wrong, so I barged in and, well…"

"You got an eyeful?" Izumi finished helpfully.

"Ye—no," Shinji said, "I mean, yeah I did but. Not exactly. They still had some of their clothes on. And eyeful sounds… crude."

Izumi shrugged, glad that Shinji didn't mention just how much clothes they had on left. "So that was the first time. What about the times after that?"

"The look on Haku's face was so precious!" Shinji said, although he looked rather guilty, "I couldn't resist walking in on them again just to get that look on his face again. He threw me out of the house after the first time though. After that he just didn't bother."

"Right," Izumi repeated, "how did you know when to walk in anyway?"

"Trial and error," Shinji replied, "I realized that they were very partial to morning sex, especially Haku."

"Gods," Izumi muttered, "That's more about Chihiro and her husband than I ever want to know."

Shinji snickered. "Well you know it now anyway. So you can use that information to torture Chihiro and get revenge for the both of us now."

"Yeah," Izumi grinned, watching, enthralled, when Shinji ran a hand through his hair, trying to get it out of his eyes. "You should tie your hair up since it bothers you that much."

"Nah," Shinji shook his head, "I tried. It didn't help. There was too much hair."

"Why don't you try braiding it?" Izumi suggested, "It'll be neater that way, and not get tangled up so easily."

"You. Want me. To braid. My hair!" Shinji looked at Izumi like she was on crack. "Are you crazy? It'll make me look even more girly that I already am."

Izumi's lips twitched. She was amused by that fact that Shinji had admitted that he was girly. "It'll be more manageable, and it won't trail all over the floor when you're lying or sitting down."

"And who, pray tell, will braid it? Because I certainly can't be bothered to do it," Shinji arched at eyebrow at Izumi.

Izumi shrugged again, "I'll do it, I don't mind. Even though I'll only be here for a couple more days. You can see if Chihiro will do it for you when I leave."

"Are you looking for an excuse to play with my hair?" Shinji asked jokingly, ignoring the disappointment he felt when he heard Izumi would be leaving soon. They were getting along pretty well.

"Maybe," Izumi said nonchalantly. "Or maybe I just can't stand it when hair looks messy. How do you keep in it good condition if you can't even be bothered to braid it?"

"Magic," Shinji answered smugly. "I came up with a spell to keep my hair looking good no matter what."

"I didn't know you had magic," Izumi said, laughing. "'Hiro-neesan never mentioned it."

"I'm not that powerful," Shinji said, "Definitely not as powerful as Haku or Zenibaa. I only have enough for some self-defense and every-day spells. Though most of the time I don't use magic to defend myself because it takes so much energy."

"Ah," Izumi said.

Just then, there was a knock on the door, and Chihiro poked her head into the room.

"As much as I am loathe to interrupt your little romantic chat, Zenibaa's back, and she says she wants to check on Shinji's wounds again, and probably do more healing," she said.

"Firstly, we were just talking. It was not a romantic chat. Secondly, I thought Zenibaa said the rest could heal naturally," Shinji pouted, "The healing is ticklish."

"Too bad," Chihiro said, "the rest could heal naturally, and Zenibaa thought so too, until I pointed out to her that you're too weak to go to the bathroom by yourself, and I don't think you would want any of us to help you in there."

"Fine," Shinji muttered. He had thought about this issue; he had just been to embarrassed to say something about it. He was somewhat glad that Chihiro thought of it, and saved him the trouble of having to mention it himself.

"Oh, and Zenibaa-san went to tell Yubaba-san that you wouldn't be going to work for an indefinite period of time, so you don't have to worry about that now." Chihiro added.

Shinji grinned, "I bet the hag threw one hell of a bitch fit."

"Well, Zenibaa did mention something like that. She also said something about a shouting match," Chihiro said dryly.

Shinji turned to Izumi and offered her one of his rare, genuine smiles. "Thanks again for saving my life, and well, just for keeping me company."

"Yeah, no problem," Izumi managed to keep her voice even, trying not to pay attention to the somersault her stomach did at the sight of Shinji smiling at her. She resolutely ignored Chihiro, who looked like she was going to burst trying to control her laughter. She picked up the tray of food and walked towards the door, smiling at Shinji before closing it behind her.

* * *

_:Are you looking for an excuse to play with my hair:_

_:Maybe. Or maybe I just can't stand it when hair looks messy…:_

Nimokushi tuned out whatever was said next, his eyes fixed on 'Chihiro'. He snarled at the thought of what she had done during their previous meeting. It was because of that _human_ that he had landed in this state now; a runaway, an escaped prisoner, and outcast, when he could have sealed off the human world for good, and gained honor and glory in the spirit world. It was because of her, that he had failed; she had thwarted his flawless plan.

The curse he had placed on Shinji had worked just as the God of Knowledge had planned. He could see their every move. Nimokushi watched as 'Chihiro' laughed at one of Shinji's jokes. His lips curled into a sneer. She would not be laughing so after their next meeting.

Everything was about to change.

* * *

Haku stared at the glowing jewel in his hand. This had to be one of the magical items. The journey so far had gone pretty well, it fact. It had only taken him a little more than three days to locate the item and get his hands on it. Really, one of the good things about being the Lord of the Spirit World was that he had all sorts of nice connections he could use to obtain information on the sacred items.

The only snag he had met was the grumpy fire deity that had guarded the treasure. The spirit had been asleep for centuries, and it did not react well to the water spell Haku had used to wake him up. Haku hadn't had a choice but to dump cold, icy water on the deity to get him to move. The jewel had been right under the sleeping deity. The deity had attacked him, and his right forearm had been slightly singed by the fire the deity had thrown. He managed to coax the deity back into slumber with a sleeping spell after grabbing the jewel, and gotten off relatively unscathed, except for the minor burn.

He was going to start hating fire soon. He remembered all too well the time when he had blown up Yubaba's kitchen with her stove while trying to make the flame on the stove bigger.

He uttered an incantation, and the jewel's red glow turned bright blue for a moment, before turning back to its original color. He slipped the jewel into his bag, and fingered the ring that hung on the chain around his neck.

_One down, two to go_.

He set off to find the second treasure, wondering where Nimokushi was right now, and if Chihiro was safe. The wards he had put around the house were unlikely to hold Nimokushi at bay if the ex-lord really wanted to get in. He just hoped that Nimokushi would strike later, rather than sooner.

* * *

**_I know the dialogue in the second scene was pretty pointless, but I had fun writing it anyway. And for those rooting for the Shinji/Izumi pairing, you can just see their cute little relationship budding. _**


End file.
